Chandigarh Literary Society recently organized the book launch of Ambassador Gurjit Singh’s fifth book The Harambee Factor: India –Africa Economic and Development Partnership. Ambassador Gurjit Singh is a former Ambassador to Germany, Indonesia, ASEAN, Ethiopia, and the African Union besides having been in Japan, Sri Lanka, Kenya, and Italy on various assignments.
Mr Vivek Atray, former IAS officer, welcomed the ambassador.
Col D S Cheema (Retd), eminent author and motivational speaker was in conversation with Mr Gurjit Singh and discussed the genesis and relevance of the book with the ambassador. Col Cheema explained how the word Harambee had been adopted as the official motto of Kenya since 1963 when it got independence. The Indians building a railway line from Mumbasa to Nairobi in 1896, often used Hari and Ambe as cooperation cry while lifting heavy loads; soon the Swahili version of it, Harambee, became their ‘Law of Generosity’.
The book is from the distilled knowledge of Mr Gurjit Singh’s ten-year engagement with Africa. He explained that the potential of India Africa engagement has tremendous potential that has yet to be fully realized. The author brought out the role of India Africa Forum Summits since 2008, and why the cooperation between two partners forming more than one–third of the population of the world, holds a lot of promise.
Col Cheema brought out certain special features of the book, like quoting an African proverb before the beginning of each chapter and detailed End Notes at the end of the chapter. He said that the book was deeply researched and was an extremely valuable contribution to the sustainable growth of India –African relationship and deserved a place of pride in every library and personal collection.
The event was attended by ambassadors Mr. S S Gill, IFS (Retd), Mr Ashok Kumar, IFS (Retd), Justice KS Grewal (Retd), ADGP A S Rai, IPS, Captain Narinder Singh, IAS (Retd) among many members of Chandigarh Literary Society and others.
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